2. 外语
  3. (1)The Muslim calendar, now in its 1,431st year, follows the cycle of the moon rather than the sun. This means it shifts by 11 d

(1)The Muslim calendar, now in its 1,431st year, follows the cycle of the moon rather than the sun. This means it shifts by 11 d

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问题     (1)The Muslim calendar, now in its 1,431st year, follows the cycle of the moon rather than the sun. This means it shifts by 11 days a year in comparison with the Gregorian calendar, completing a full cycle in about 33 years. And it ignores the seasons. Ramadan(斋月), the month of fasting which this year began on August 12th, is now taking place slap in the middle of the Arab world’s summer holiday. Those who observe the fast must not only put up with the heat and the ensuing dangers of dehydration and exhaustion. There are economic costs that did not weigh a generation ago, when consumer culture had yet to take hold. Across the Arab world, for instance, the price of cooking oil shoots up, since fried sweets are a Ramadan speciality. The cost of sugar rises too. So does the price of honey, especially in the Maghreb. Food importers do particularly well out of pistachios(开心果), dates and dried apricots. Caf6s close by day but often make up for that with late-night revels. Many big new television shows are launched during Ramadan, accounting for a third of annual advertising revenue for Arab satellite television stations.
    (2)But for many businesses, especially government ones, productivity plummets as the working day shortens by two or three hours. The stock market, however, usually surges, according to a recent study by Ahmad Etebari, a professor at the University of New Hampshire. Studying market patterns in Muslim countries between 1989 and 2007, he found that returns during Ramadan were almost nine times higher than in the rest of the year. The reason, he says, is that the seasonal cheer encourages optimism and thus risk-taking.
    (3)But a summer Ramadan is, overall, bad for the economy. Governments worry about the higher cost of producing more electricity. The lights stay on longer, as people have to eat after nightfall. Kuwait’s electricity ministry has given warning of power cuts and electricity rationing, since more locals will stay at home for Ramadan, with air conditioners on full throttle, rather than go abroad, as many of them usually do in August The authorities in many Arab countries offer food subsidies to ensure that families can afford basic staples. Price controls are often imposed on retailers who are tempted to raise prices to take advantage of increased demand.
    (4)Western tourists hesitate to spend their holidays at a time when food can be hard to find during the day and alcohol sales are suspended, as in Morocco. Muslim tourists may also choose to stay at home for Ramadan. Egypt, where August is a peak month for tourists from other Arab countries, has launched a festival to entice this high-income customers to come and celebrate away from home.
    (5)Visits from the millions of North Africans who work in Europe have been shortened or shifted to earlier dates, as they are less keen to visit their families back home when the weather is scorching. Ferry companies say bookings for Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, which used to peak at the end of August as families returned to Europe for the start of the school year, piled up at the beginning of the month, just before Ramadan. Meanwhile, Arabs who can afford to fly north and west prefer to spend the fasting month in gentler climes.
The italicized word "slap" in the first paragraph is closest in meaning to _____.
选项 A、coincidently
B、auspiciously
C、approximately
D、unexpectedly
答案A
解析 如果按照公历年，穆斯林的斋月每年的时间不一样。首段第4句的意思是今年的拉马丹，也就是8月12日开始的斋月，正是阿拉伯世界最热的时期。句中slap的意思是“正好，恰好”，只有A与之意思最为接近。
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